Kim Jong il Quotes

Kim Jong Il was born in 1941 in the Soviet Union to a military family where his father was a commander of the Soviet 88th brigade that consisted of Chinese and Korean conscripts. His family settled back into Korea after the Japanese occupation ended at the twilight of WWII only to see more conflict in the shape of the Korean war. Once his father took control of what is now North Korea under the guise of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and he stayed in power until his death in 1994. Kim Jong Il had been groomed for power for many years and by 1980 was openly mooted as the heir apparent to take supreme command. Although firm favourite to take over power upon his fathers death it took him 3 years to consolidate his position and by 1998 he fulfilled his destiny to become Supreme Commander of North Korea. The break up of the Soviet Union in the early 90's meant dwindling support from Moscow and the economic follies of Kim Jong Il's regime saw the country plumb the depths of famine in the mid 1990's. This led Kim Jong Il to support a military first stance whereby the army grew strong at the expense of the people. Politics aside he was a film buff bar none who had a movie collection in excess of 20,000 dvd's. In 1978 he even organised the kidnapping of South Korean movie producer and director Shin Sang-ok in a bid to bolster the North Korean film industry, he even kidnapped his wife to make Shin Sang-ok feel happy in his new Pyongyang home. The most famous North Korean movie he produced was Pulgasari in 1985 and one year later Shin Sang-ok escaped from North Korea after 8 years of captivity. As eccentric leaders come Kim Jong Il has been portrayed as being up there with the best of them, although Madeleine Albright described him as attentive to detail and a reasonable man in negotiations, so maybe the western media played that one up a bit. All great leaders start off as well meaning but not many attain the giddy heights of Supreme Leader so here is my compilation of 10 of the best Kim Jong Il quotes.

Mini Bio

Name: Kim Jong Il

Born: 16th February 1941, Vyatskoye, Soviet Union

Died: 17th December 2011

Occupation: Supreme commander of the Korean People's Army and Supreme Leader of North Korea

Popular culture: North Korean popular culture dictates that Kim was born in 1942 with a swallow foretelling of his coming, a bright star in the sky and a double rainbow on the horizon. However, austere Soviet records tell us otherwise

Movies: He was quoted as saying his favourite actor was Sean Connery and favourite actress Elizabeth Taylor

Trivia: He was a movie buff who cited his favourite movies as; Gone With The Wind (1939), Dr No (1962), The Godfather (1972), Friday the 13th (1980) and First Blood (1982)

"The possible is in store only for a man who loves the future. There is no word "impossible" in the Korean language"

Kim Jong il

"Great ideology creates great times"

Kim Jong il

"I am the object of criticism around the world. But I think that since I am being discussed, then I am on the right track.

Kim Jong il

"Imperialist aid is a noose of plunder and subjugation, aimed at robbing 10 and even 100 things for one thing that is given"

Kim Jong il

"One can live without candy, but one cannot live without bullets"

Kim Jong il

"We have already reached the status of a strong country in the military field, let alone politics and ideology"

Kim Jong Il

"The revolution is carried out by means of one's thought, not through one's family background"

Kim Jong Il

"National defense is the sacred duty of the young and all other people"

Kim Jong Il

"The liquidation of colonialism is a trend of the times which no force can hold back"

Kim Jong Il

"A man who dreads trials and difficulties cannot become a revolutionary"

Kim Jong Il

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